The Versatile Man: The Life and Times of Don Ross, Kaytetye StockmanBorn in Barrow Creek, Australia, north of Alice Springs, to an Aboriginal mother and a white father, Don Ross grew up at Neutral Junction station between two worlds: the white settler world of his grandfather and other station owners, and the Aboriginal Kaytetye world of his mother's family. He knew both cultures and spoke both languages, and experienced the uneasy tension of living between the two. Don was an eager eight-year-old when he first started to work in the stock camps on his grandfather's cattle station in the early 1920s. In a series of yarns, he delights in recalling the many colorful characters who crossed his path, and recollects the arduous and often dangerous life of a stockman. The Versatile Man paints a picture of a bygone era of pastoral industry development and technological change in a frontier world where only the strong, the capable, the resourceful, and the adaptable survived. |
Contents
Old Grandfather George Hayes | 37 |
Trouble all right | 63 |
Left the mothers crying | 71 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal Adelaide Alec Ross Alice Springs Alyawarr Ammaroo Anningie Annitowa Arrernte Barrow Creek bastard blackfellas bloke bloody horses bloody thing bore boss bought branding buck buggy bullocks bush bush tucker called camels cattle Central Mount Stuart Choolum cook Darwin Dick Don Ross Don's drink Elkedra father fence frightened funny gallop gawd geez gotta Hector Henty Huckitta Jack jump Kaytetye Kemarre Kent Stewart kids killed knew knocked kurdaitcha look Lorna mare married miles morning mother mustering Neutral Junction station never night Northern Territory old fella Old George Hayes Oodnadatta Ooratippra Photo courtesy plenty poor bugger pull reckoned ride round running Stan Brown started Stirling station stock camp stockman talk Tennant Creek told took tracks Tree truck tucker Waite River wanted Warlpiri waterhole whitefella woman yard Yeah Young George Hayes